David, Moffett, and Ornette: The Ornette Coleman Trio

1966

26min

In Paris in the spring of 1966, Ornette Coleman, controversial Free Jazz composer, wrote and recorded the soundtrack for a Living Theatre project, a film entitled Who's crazy? This documentary short is a record of the two days Ornette spent in the studio making music with collaborators, virtuoso bass player David Izenson (formerly of the NBC Symphony Orchestra) and drummer Charles Moffett. Ornette plays alto, violin, trumpet and piano and introduces his haunting ballad "Sadness." When not performing, the artists discuss the precariousness of the musical life, the price of artistic freedom and personal fulfillment, and in the cases of Ornette and Moffett, the pain of discrimination.